Page 62

ALBIN

‘‘I’m telling you,”

I said, trying to keep my voice low from eavesdroppers. “A vampyr and an alpha pack from the other realm are here. The omega from the prophecy, she’s bonded to them, and they’re here to take her back. They’re the ones who attacked!”

“I’m sorry, but that’s alderbeast crap,”

Toby replied. “The guards said the explosion was just from a training exercise gone wrong, that’s it.”

Fucking Toby. Who even invited his boot-licking ass?

I hadn’t put much stock in what the lone vampyr had said about trying to save the world. Vampyrs of old had power—that was another reason the king had been all but too happy to get rid of them—but just one against an entire army?

He may as well have been a pixie.

The alphas had smelled strong, though, and that explosion had come from the outside, while the vamp had still been trying to escape.

If those alphas could form packs, wield magic, and ally with a vampyr? Well, it was still a long shot for them to succeed in taking down the king once and for all, but it would be even longer if we just sat around and waited for them to save us.

I’d been quietly spreading the word to meet in the food storage hut after sundown, and there were enough shifters here to bring my message to those who couldn’t come.

“I saw a shadow in the sky when I woke this morning,”

Jocosta said, nervously crossing her arms. “And the guards shouted that there was an intruder. I’ve never seen them have a training exercise like that before.”

I pursed my lips and gestured towards her. “See?”

I said, losing my patience with Toby.

He just shook his head, getting up to head towards the door. “You all do what you like, I’m going to do my job and avoid getting killed over Albin’s drunken nightmares, thanks.”

I growled, feeling my wolf inside wishing to get out. Moons damn it, I hated this stupid silver cuff. “The vampyr was here, you’re welcome to take a sniff in my house to confirm it. Everything I’m saying is true.”

“I believe you,”

Raynar said. “The problem is what you plan to do about it. Move against the guards? Against the king? It’s madness.”

The crowd murmured their agreements, some coming up to me to pat me on the shoulder and sympathetically decline before leaving.

I understood their hesitation, but I needed to try to convince them. This was our chance to finally free ourselves from the yoke of the king’s oppression. Hundreds of years of forced servitude, of erasing our culture and taking our non-beta pups away from us.

No more. No more would we just let the king and his fae soldiers destroy our families. Change was in the air, I could feel it. I could smell it.

“Betas, listen to me! This kingdom has prospered on the blood and sweat of our labor. Individually, the king sees us as nothing more than worms, and he’s content to pick us off if we make trouble. But as a whole? He can’t kill us all, we’re too valuable.”

“So, which of us are you willing to let die for this impromptu rebellion, hm?”

Osanna, an elder female asked. “You think they won’t go after the pups to keep us in line?”

Other betas looked at me, waiting for me to respond, but I just hung my head down low. “I get it. I have no mate, no pups… it’s easy for me to say this is worth the sacrifice.”

I’d had a mate, many years back. An alpha female who presented late. The priestess had lost an eye for the mis-designation, and my beloved Livia had been taken from me while we were still young, on the first bloom of love.

I hadn’t desired to take another ever since. I hadn’t desired for much since, to be honest.

Meeting that vamp, though, had kindled a spark in my soul, and my anger was finally fanning the flame.

“But if you’re willing to fight, willing to take action on a dream for a better future, meet me by the western gate when the moons have risen next to the wolf star.”